Little Butterfly and her people, the Awá, are earth's 'most threatened tribe'.
© Survival

The extent of the peril facing the world’s ‘most threatened tribe’ was revealed today, as Brazilian authorities admitted that the Awá tribe are now outnumbered 10:1 inside just one of their reserves.

Officials acknowledged the scale of the emergency after receiving over 20,000 messages of protest following the launch of Survival’s campaign to save the Awá tribe from imminent extinction.

Survival International has learned that a government survey estimates there could be up to 4,500 invaders – ranchers, loggers and settlers – now occupying just one of the four territories inhabited by the Awá tribe, whose total population stands at no more than 450.

The new head of FUNAI (Brazil’s Indian Affairs Department), Dra Marta Azevedo, has confirmed that the plight of the Awá tribe is now her department’s top priority.

Meanwhile Brazil’s Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo has been receiving over 1,000 messages a day since actor Colin Firth launched the campaign.

This satellite graphic shows the extent of illegal logging in one Awá territory.
© Survival

The Awá tribe’s land is being destroyed faster than any other Amazon tribe. As the rainy season ends, one of their main hunting areas is now being targeted by loggers. An Awá man named Armadillo said today, ‘How will we live without the forest?’

Survival Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Brazil is one of the world’s most important countries with one of its most dynamic economies, and it certainly has the resources to protect Awá land. Can it deliver? If not, and the Awá are destroyed, then is this new ‘economic miracle’ just for the rich and powerful? Where does ‘the rule of law’ stand in the hierarchy of money and guns?’

A Nanti man. His tribe's land is set to be invaded as Peru furthers its gas exploration into protected areas.
© Survival

Secret plans reveal Peru is actively pursuing new gas reserves inside protected tribal land, a flagrant violation of laws that prevent such projects.

The Nahua-Nanti Reserve in southeast Peru is known for its uncontacted Amazon tribes, but more controversially, for a wide stretch of gas fields called the Camisea project.

Only last month, despite 75% of one gas block already dominating the reserve, Peru’s Ministry of Mines and Energy gave the Camisea consortium the green light for more gas exploration.

And now Peru has gone further, releasing plans for the country’s first state-owned oil block, which will be inside the legally protected area.

Known as Fitzcarrald, and owned by PetroPeru, Survival can reveal the new site is projected to be east of Camisea’s Block 88.

In April, Peru gave Camisea permission to expand its gas fields further into protected land.
© A. Goldstein/Survival

If confirmed, its location will cut the Nahua-Nanti Reserve in half, and put uncontacted tribes’ lives in immediate danger.

Peru’s indigenous organization FENAMAD says ‘there is no doubt the government is attempting to cut up indigenous territories for gas exploration…which will be reflected in the genocide and ethnocide of indigenous peoples.’

The new plans are a clear violation of a 2003 Supreme Decree prohibiting any new development of natural resources inside the Nahua-Nanti Reserve.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘These steps not only jeopardize the future of uncontacted and contacted tribes in the reserve, but also go entirely against the law. Previous gas exploration in this area has decimated Indian tribes, so it’s astonishing that the government is prepared to contemplate history repeating itself, and doesn’t appear to care what the consequences are.’

Note to Editors
- See how the Fitzcarrald site will encroach on the Nahua-Nanti Reserve (pdf, 3 MB)
- Download Peru’s 2003 Supreme Decree on the Nahua-Nanti Reserve (pdf, 83 KB)

A family from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, where killings, torture and rape against tribal people are common.
© Mark McEvoy/Survival

An eleven-year old girl from the Chakma tribe in Bangladesh has been raped and murdered by a settler.

Sujata Chakma and her younger brother were grazing cows near their village when she was attacked on 9 May.

A suspect has been arrested, but local indigenous people have little faith he will be brought to justice.

Between January and May this year, at least six Jumma girls and women have been raped. Rina Dewan of the Hill Women’s Federation says, ‘The setters continue to commit rape with impunity; not a single rapist has ever been brought to justice, and this is the single greatest factor contributing to the recurrence of this heinous crime.’

The government of Bangladesh has moved hundreds of thousands of settlers into the Chittagong Hill Tracts, home to eleven tribes, known collectively as Jummas.

The settlers have displaced many of the indigenous Jummas, who have also been subjected to violent repression by the army. Jumma women and young girls are especially vulnerable to violent sexual attacks.

Whilst this violence continues unabated and with seemingly little attempt by the authorities to prosecute the perpetrators, evidence has emerged of further attempts to undermine the rights of the indigenous Jumma people.

A confidential circular, from the political wing of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Home Affairs, has recently emerged. The document was distributed to government officials last year in the run up to the UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9th.

It warned government officials not to contradict the official government policy that there are no indigenous people in Bangladesh – only ‘tribal people’ and ‘small ethnic groups’.

It went on to recommend that no government support should be given during Indigenous Peoples’ Day and that steps should be taken to publicise that ‘there are no indigenous people in Bangladesh’.

This circular comes in the wake of amendments to the constitution in June 2011, which controversially failed to recognize the estimated 50-60 indigenous peoples living in Bangladesh as ‘indigenous peoples’, in line with the United Nations understanding of the term.

Instead, it describes them as, ‘tribes, ethnic groups, ethnic sects and communities’. The government of Bangladesh has since announced that it will remove all references to ‘indigenous’ and ‘Adivasi’ from government documents, laws and even school textbooks.

The government’s attack on the term ‘indigenous’ and on the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day is even more surprising given that in previous years the Prime Minister herself sent messages of support to the country’s indigenous peoples on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Her party’s election manifesto also contained the term indigenous (Adivasi) several times.

Survival’s Director, Stephen Corry said today, ‘Instead of worrying about whether ministers might accidently use the term ‘indigenous’, the government of Bangladesh should be ensuring that Jumma women and young girls are safe from rape and murder. The record of prosecuting those responsible for these atrocities is scandalous – it’s high time that the government put its priorities in order and respected the rights of the Jummas’.

Note to Editors:

The original document is available to read here

© Survival

A Survival International overflight of the Chaco forest in Paraguay has confirmed fears that cattle ranchers are destroying the last hiding place of uncontacted Ayoreo Indians.

Aerial views of the Chaco in northern Paraguay show large tracts of barren land that have been deforested to make way for hundreds of cattle.

Brazilian owned companies River Plate S.A. and BBC S.A have both been caught illegally clearing land that belongs to the Ayoreo.

Contacted members of the tribe have repeatedly expressed their fear for the lives of their relatives who remain hidden in the forest.

But the farmers continue to operate in the area, despite several court charges brought against them.

A Survival spokesperson who was present during the overflight said, ‘The thing which struck me most was how small the Ayoreo’s area is. 

‘Anyone living within the core must be very well aware of what is going on around them and feel very threatened.  The encroaching farms are like a tightening noose and it cannot be easy to cross to reach other undisturbed areas.’

Government authorities recently confirmed the presence of uncontacted Ayoreo on River Plate’s land, but it is unclear what actions will be taken to protect them.

Pataxó Hã Hã Hãe Indians lobby the Brazilian authorities to uphold their land rights
© José Cruz/ABr

The Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe Indians of Brazil are celebrating a Supreme Court decision to allow them to live undisturbed on their land.

The Pataxó, of Bahia state, have been subjected to violent conflict for decades as ranchers have been occupying their indigenous territory.

They have been pushing to be able to live undisturbed on their ancestral land, a right guaranteed to them by Brazil’s constitution and by international law.

After a long judicial battle, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled this month that the ranchers must leave the area.

The Pataxó sang and danced at a ceremony to welcome the decision. One Indian said, ‘Today our damaged heart is crying with happiness’.

State Deputy Padre Ton emphasized that this land is for the Indians, ‘chased away and evicted by the violence they suffered’.

The Brazilian authorities are now responsible for resettling the ranchers.

Bushmen are being arrested despite their right to live and hunt in the CKGR.
© Survival

Botswana’s security forces are arresting and intimidating Bushmen, despite the tribe’s legal right to live and hunt in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

Survival has received several reports that a large group of police officers have set up a permanent camp close to the community of Metsiamenong, which famously resisted Botswana’s brutal evictions.

So far police have made at least 5 arrests after finding hunted meat in the community. No charges have been brought so far. Soliders and paramilitary police are also reported to be in the reserve.

Whilst the Bushmen are legally allowed to hunt inside the reserve, the government has made it impossible by unlawfully refusing to issue a single hunting permit.

One Bushman living inside the reserve said, ‘Since the arrests, the lives of the Bushman have changed significantly. The government has sent in armed forces to intimidate us, making our lives very difficult. We depend on the natural resources of the CKGR for our food. How are we expected to survive if we cannot hunt?’

Botswana’s High Court upheld the Bushmen’s rights to their land in 2006 after a long legal battle, but it wasn’t until 2011 that they won the right to access water.

Bushmen in Metsiamenong celebrate their victory in 2006.
© Survival

Government officials had sealed the tribe’s well in an effort to drive them from the reserve, resulting in the death of at least one tribeswoman close to Metsiamenong.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘We are extremely concerned by reports that Botswana’s security forces have set up a camp close to Metsiamenong. This is a clear attempt to intimidate and undermine the human rights the Bushmen battled to save. It will not succeed.’

Note to Editors:

Learn more about the Bushmen’s forced eviction in Survival’s photo-gallery.

Uncontacted Mashco-Piro are believed to live in the path of the road. One band of the tribe were recently spotted further south.
© D. Cortijo/www.uncontactedtribes.org

Peru’s Congress is about to approve a highly controversial road that will slash in half the territory of at least two uncontacted tribes.

Congressmen are considering a law that could declare the project a ‘public necessity’, and consequently bypass huge indigenous opposition.

The proposed road will run across the southeast of Peru’s Amazon from Puerto Esperanza in the Purus region near Brazil, to Iñapari.

Three highly important protected areas lie in its path, including the Madre de Dios Reserve for uncontacted Indians.

The project notably omits reference to uncontacted tribes, as well as opposition from the region’s indigenous peoples, who make up 80% of the population.

They fear the road will attract an onslaught of illegal loggers and colonists who would devastate their forest and the uncontacted Indians living there.

In an appeal to Congress, indigenous organization ORAU said, ‘Do not get carried away by a small group of legislators who want to turn the Purus into a desert’.

Puerto Esperanza’s Catholic priest Miguel Piovesan is widely considered to be the main driver behind the project.

In a recent leaked email Piovesan insisted, ‘There is no danger of a logging invasion’.

However Peru’s comprehensive failure to curb illegal logging in the Amazon has been internationally condemned.

More than 114,000 people have signed a Survival petition to stop the invasion of illegal loggers on uncontacted tribes’ land.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘It is highly suspicious as to why Piovesan and his friends in Congress wish to build a road in an indigenous area that has almost no support from indigenous people. This ‘we know what’s best for you’ attitude is not only patronising, it’s deadly, as the last 500 years of colonialism and “development” of indigenous lands has shown.’

India's illegal 'human safari' road remains open 10 years after ruling to close it.
© G Chamberlain/ Survival

A road at the centre of a ‘human safari’ scandal in the Andaman Islands is still open, exactly ten years after India’s Supreme Court ordered its closure.

The Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) cuts through the reserve of the Jarawa tribe, and has been internationally condemned for facilitating their exploitation.

The practise of ‘human safaris’, in which tourists are promised the chance to ‘spot’ the Jarawa as if they were animals in a park, was first exposed by Survival in 2010.

The findings revealed how biscuits and sweets were thrown from vehicles on the road to lure the Jarawa closer.

Since then, the UK’s Observer newspaper has revealed how tourists and police have been caught entering the reserve to watch and film the tribe.

India’s Supreme Court ordered the Andaman administration to close the ATR in May 2002. The Islands’ authorities have refused.

Senior Survival campaigner Sophie Grig has flown to the Andamans to call for the road to be closed, and an alternative route established.

Survival International’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Andaman authorities might be putting measures in place to try to control the use of the road, but it is clear that these measures don’t get to the root of the issue. The fact is 250 vehicles are still entering the reserve on a daily basis. The only way of ensuring the Jarawa are free to choose their way of life for themselves is by closing this illegal road.’

Enawene Nawe man. Drastically low fish stocks in the Indians' rivers have left them 'desperate'
© Fiona Watson/Survival

The Enawene Nawe Indians of the Brazilian Amazon have said they feel ‘desperate’, as their annual fishing ritual has provided them with almost no fish.

This is the fourth year running that the Indians have encountered drastically low fish stocks in their rivers, and the second year in which the ritual could not be properly performed.

This year’s catch is reportedly even lower than in 2009, when the Indians faced a catastrophic food shortage.

The lack of fish is blamed on pollution from the dams being built in the Juruena river basin. The Indians did not give their consent for the project, and have warned, ‘We don’t want the dams dirtying our water, killing our fish, invading our lands.’

The drastic fish shortage is being blamed on the construction of dams in the area
© Survival International

During the Yãkwa ritual, Enawene Nawe men spend months in the forest, building wooden dams to trap fish, then smoking the fish and taking them to their villages by canoe.

This is a key part of the tribe’s culture, and crucial to the Indians’ diet as they do not eat meat.

Brazil’s Public Ministry has implemented an ‘emergency program’ and ordered the government’s indigenous affairs department, FUNAI, and the dam construction companies, to buy fish for the tribe.

Yãkwa has been recognized as part of Brazil’s cultural and historic heritage, and UNESCO has called for it to be ‘urgently safeguarded’.

Colin Firth's appeal has generated more than 10,000 protest emails.
© Survival

A campaign launched by Colin Firth to save the world’s most threatened tribe has generated more than 10,000 protest emails to the Brazilian government in just three days – a record for protest action for tribal peoples anywhere in the world.

The Survival International campaign aims to save the Awá tribe, whose lands are being illegally invaded and destroyed.

In a video appeal, Colin Firth asks viewers to send a protest message to Brazil’s Justice Minister, who has the power to send in federal police to evict the loggers, ranchers and settlers who are ravaging the tribe’s land.

Illegal settlers have reached just 30 minutes' walk from Little Butterfly's community.
© Survival

In his appeal Colin Firth says, ‘The Awá’s forest is being illegally cut for timber. When the loggers see them, they kill them. Their bows and arrows are no match for guns. And at any other time in history, that’s where it would end. Another people wiped off the face of the earth, forever. But we’re going to make sure the world doesn’t let that happen…’

Brazil’s Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo has yet to respond to the barrage of messages, but told a Brazilian journalist, ‘Unfortunately we have a lot of violence in relation to indigenous peoples, and the scale is such that it is impossible, for any government, to prevent situations as they unfold.’

Stephen Corry, Survival International’s Director, said today, ‘If Brazil allows more of its original people to be sacrificed for some truckloads of timber it will be an enduring stain on the history of a great nation, an irredeemable tragedy for humanity, and of course a catastrophe for the Awá. Brazil is one of the richest countries in the world, but does it have the strength to uphold its own laws?’

Colin Firth has appealed to save the Awá from extinction
© Survival

Oscar-winning film star Colin Firth today launched a major Survival International campaign to save ‘Earth’s most threatened tribe’ – the Awá of the Brazilian Amazon.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a short film, featuring an appeal by Colin Firth and music by Grammy-winning composer Heitor Pereira.

The Awá are a small tribe whose territory has been invaded by a vast army of illegal loggers, ranchers and settlers. Astonishing graphics on the campaign website show the devastating destruction of the Indians’ forest – which is happening faster than any other Amazon tribe.

Illegal settlers have reached just 30 minutes' walk from Little Butterfly's community
© Survival

The situation is now so critical that several Brazilian experts have spoken of a ‘genocide’ and ‘extinction’.

There are around 360 contacted Awá. Many are the survivors of brutal massacres. It is believed that 20-25% more are hiding in the rapidly-shrinking forest, desperately seeking a refuge from the constant destruction.

The campaign aims to persuade Brazil’s Justice Minister to send in federal police to clear out the loggers, ranchers and settlers, and keep them out.

In his appeal Colin Firth says, ‘The Awá’s forest is being illegally cut for timber. When the loggers see them, they kill them. Their bows and arrows are no match for guns. And at any other time in history, that’s where it would end. Another people wiped off the face of the earth, forever. But we’re going to make sure the world doesn’t let that happen…

The Awá are Earth's most threatened tribe
© Survival

Survival’s film features unique footage of the Awá, who rarely allow outsiders in to their communities. Highlights include scenes showing the Indians’ extraordinarily close relationship to their pets; the moonlit ritual in which the Awá talk to their ancestors’ spirits; and the devastating destruction caused by loggers and ranchers, who set whole hillsides alight.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Awá are threatened by the armed loggers, but also by our own apathy. Yet these campaigns have been repeatedly shown to be successful. If enough people, in Brazil and around the world, show they care, Awá children will be able to grow up in peace on their own land. That’s been proved over and over again.’

Note to Editors:

1. Other unique and exclusive films are available on the campaign website: www.survivalinternational.org/awa

2. Exclusive photos and further footage is available.

3. Survival’s Research Director Fiona Watson, one of the world’s leading experts on uncontacted tribes, is available for interview.

4. ‘Uncontacted’ means people who have no peaceful contact with anyone in the mainstream or dominant society. Read a Q and A about uncontacted tribes.

Previously uncontacted Nukak emerged from the forest in the 1980s after being forced from their land by violent armed groups
© Gustavo Pollitis/Survival

An uncontacted tribe has been photographed from the air for the first time in the Colombian Amazon.

The Indians, thought to be members of the Yuri tribe, live in the Rio Pure National Park, created in 2002 for their protection.

A report by conservation organization ACT Colombia states that there is evidence of another three uncontacted tribes in the area.

ACT and the Colombian National Park Service released the photographs to bolster protection for the Indians.

The park lies close to the Brazilian border and has been increasingly invaded by illegal gold-miners and loggers in recent years.

Illegal armed guerrilla groups are also present in the area, placing the lives of the Indians at extreme risk.

Survival is monitoring the situation and has written to the Colombian government urging it to ensure the safety and survival of the uncontacted Indians.

Giant (Michel Andrew), who aims to connect young Innu with 'nutshimit'.
© Joanna Eede/Survival

The Innu of north-eastern Canada are celebrating the completion of an historic 4,000 km walk through Nitassinan, their ancestral territory.

The initiative of a young Innu man, Michel Andrew (known as ‘Giant’), the walk aimed to raise awareness of the Innu’s escalating diabetes crisis and reconnect young Innu with nutshimit (‘the country’): the taiga, tundra and rocky barrens that sustained the Innu for millennia.

Giant’s walk began in the winter of 2009 as a solo journey; he left his community of Sheshatshiu with just an axe, toboggan, stove and tent.

During the final stage, approximately 40 Innu walkers joined Giant, crossing the frozen interior of sub-arctic Quebec and Labrador together. They ate caribou, partridge and porcupine hunted along the way.

Walkers from 'The Young Innu Cultural Health Walk'.
© Joanna Eede/Survival

Michel Andrew’s walk is thought to be the first crossing of Nitassinan since the once-nomadic Innu were pressurised into settling in communities in the 1950s and ‘60s by the government and Catholic Church.

Celebrations are taking place in the Labrador community of Sheshatshiu on Wednesday 18th April 2012, in what is thought to be one of the biggest gatherings of Innu in recent years.

‘There was zero diabetes among our people before, when our grandparents were living in the country, hunting and eating healthy country foods,’ said Giant. ‘Today, only a few families from my community go to nutshimit. They eat the white man’s food – canned food from the store – and drink alcohol.

‘It hurts me to think about it. I want my walk to show our people that our way of life in the country is a healthy life. Otherwise in another 10 years, what will happen? The whole community could have diabetes. Everybody could be losing limbs.’

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The walk has engendered self-esteem and collective pride in being Innu, which the government and Church tried so hard to erode. It shows that, despite the injustices and tragedies of recent years, the unique Innu spirit is still strong.’

Joanna Eede, Editorial Consultant to Survival International, joined Giant for two weeks of the walk. Photos and footage available. For interviews, please contact: (+44) (0)20 7687 8700
Alex Andrew, organiser of ‘The Young Innu Cultural Health Walk’ is available for interviews on cell no: 001 709 897 4181

Notes to Editors:

• For 7,500 years the Innu were semi-nomadic hunters, crossing Nitassinan in search of the vast herds of caribou that migrate across their land. Since their land was confiscated and they were pressurised into settling, rates of diabetes, alcoholism and suicide have soared.
• Settlement also coincided with a number of industrial developments on Innu territory, including mining concessions, hydropower schemes, forestry projects and road developments.
• Current rates of diabetes in Sheshatshiu and Natuashish:
– Sheshatshiu 235 out of a population of 1500 (15%).
– Natuashish 55 out of a population of 600 (9%).
• In April 1999, the UN Human Rights Committee described the situation of Canada’s indigenous people as ‘the most pressing issue facing Canadians’, and condemned Canada for ‘extinguishing’ aboriginal peoples’ rights.
• Giant’s walk has become known as ‘The Young Innu Cultural Health Walk.’
• Six Innu Nations will be represented by their Chiefs or Deputy Chiefs at the Sheshatshiu celebrations.
• The book ‘Giant’s Dream – a healing journey through Nitassinan’, written by Nikashant Antane (Alex Andrew), is available from www.creativebookpublishing.ca
• ‘We are One – a celebration of tribal peoples’ by Joanna Eede is available at www.survivalinternational.org/weareone

Guarani Indians. Tonico Benites is fighting for the Guarani's right to live on their land.
© Joaó Ripper/Survival

The Brazilian authorities are investigating death threats to Guarani anthropologist and activist Tonico Benites.

Benites and his family were stopped by a man armed with two revolvers, on a road close to Brazil’s border with Paraguay. The man stole Benites’s money, said that he was creating ‘chaos’ in the area and warned that if he didn’t stop, he would ‘lose everything’ and would not live.

Benites is studying the land conflict between ranchers and Guarani Indians in Brazil, and alongside other Guarani, he is fighting for the Indians’ right to live on their ancestral land.

Benites told Survival, ‘I belong to the Guarani territory, where I was born, where I grew up, where I have lived and where I will die… I will keep fighting… I am proud to belong to the Guarani people, who fight to guarantee a more dignified and fair future for their children’.

Much of the Guarani’s territory has been stolen from them to make way for ranches and sugarcane plantations, and many communities are now living in overcrowded reserves or roadside camps.

Guarani individuals and communities who fight to return to their land often face threats and violence.

Benites said the Guarani are ‘anxiously waiting for proper action from the government regarding the demarcation of our ancestral lands, and the crimes committed by ranchers against the indigenous people’.

Survival is lobbying the Brazilian government to map out and protect the land for the Indians, and to guarantee their safety.

Download Survival’s report to the UN which outlines the Guarani’s situation.

Hundreds of Dongria Kondh protest against the Vedanta mine appeal.
© Bikash Khemka/Survival

One of the world’s most controversial mines is back in the spotlight after hundreds protested against renewed efforts to mine India’s Niyamgiri Hills.

Dongria Kondh and Niyamgiri supporters held their own ‘public hearing’ in Orissa state, where they restated their resolve not to allow mining on their sacred mountain.

The meeting coincided with a Supreme Court appeal in Delhi, which sought to overturn a 2010 ruling preventing UK mining company Vedanta from building an open-pit bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri Hills.

However, the appeal was adjourned on Monday and India’s Supreme Court has yet to issue a new date for the hearing.

Shortly after the announcement, Indian activist Prafulla Samentra from the National Alliance of People’s Movements, spoke to Survival.

He said, ‘I hope India’s Supreme Court endorses the government’s ruling not to mine in Niyamgiri. This is in the interests of protecting natural resources and tribal peoples.’

Miles away in the Niyamgiri Hills, two years after the Dongria Kondh historically defeated Vedanta, protesters continue to make their position clear.

Dongria elder Dodhi Sikaka said, ‘Those who are fighting for their rights are beaten up and put behind bars. Now all we Dongrias are together in resisting this. We are fighting for our own people, for our ancestral land, for Niyamgiri.’

The plight of India's Dongria Kondh has been likened to a 'real-life Avatar'.
© Survival

Survival International’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘By once again postponing this decision, the Supreme Court judges have left a sword of Damocles hanging over the Dongrias’ heads. But on Sunday the Dongria held their own day of judgment – a public hearing at which they vowed to protect their sacred mountain. Whatever the court may decide far away in Delhi, in the Niyamgiri Hills the Dongrias’ decision is clear.’

The new law has been pushed since the tragic incidents of the Bagua protests in northern Peru
© Marijke Deleu and Thomas Quirynen

This week Peru has published the greatly anticipated Prior Consultation Law promised by Ollanta Humala at the beginning of his presidency last year.

The law aims to strengthen ILO Convention 169, the only international law protecting indigenous peoples’ rights, which was ratified by Peru in 1993.

However, the law has been bitterly rejected by some of Peru’s most important indigenous organizations after months of intense debate.

Contentious points include the decision to consult indigenous peoples about projects that will affect their lands and rights only after a contract has been granted.

Another hotly contested clause is that consultation ‘is not necessarily binding’, meaning a project that is rejected by all the indigenous inhabitants can still go ahead.

In many parts of Peru indigenous people, including uncontacted tribes, have had their lands divided up unto oil and gas blocks or auctioned off for hydroelectric dams.

Although many companies in Peru pay lip service to indigenous rights laws, many use force or coercion to ensure their project is given the green light.

Peru continues to approve oil and gas projects despite previous exploration leading to the death of half the Nahua tribe.
© Survival

Peru’s government is ignoring new UN guidelines on the protection of uncontacted Indians in the Amazon.

Instead of backing the UN’s landmark report, which supports the tribes’ right to be left alone, Peru is allowing the country’s largest gas project to expand further into indigenous territories known to house numerous uncontacted Indians.

The new UN guidance makes clear that uncontacted tribes’ land should be untouchable, and that ‘no rights should be granted that involve the use of natural resources’.

The expansion plan adds to existing controversies around Argentine gas giant Pluspetrol and its notorious Camisea project in southeast Peru.

Past oil and gas exploration in Peru has resulted in violent and disastrous contact with isolated Indians.

In the early 1980s, Shell workers opened up paths into the uncontacted Nahua Indians’ land. Diseases soon wiped out half the tribe.

One surviving Nahua who lives close to Camisea’s developments said, ‘The company should not be here. All the time we hear helicopters. Our animals have left, there are no fish. For this, I don’t want the company. No! No company.’

Camisea’s pipeline is cutting its way through indigenous land in southeast Peru
© A. Goldstein/Survival

Despite an electoral campaign that promised to respect indigenous rights, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala has done little to guarantee the survival of indigenous peoples.

The Camisea consortium includes US-based Hunt Oil and Spain’s Repsol. Both have been accused of violating tribal peoples’ rights.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The UN’s breakthrough report at last recognises the rights of uncontacted Indians. Peru needs to read it and respect those who wish to be left alone before entire tribes are lost forever.’

Efforts to re-direct the Omo River for irrigation are drying up a key water source for tribes.
© Survival

New photographic evidence proves Ethiopia’s controversial plantations scheme is killing the Lower Omo River, a lifeline for 100,000 tribal people.

The Omo River downstream from the notorious Gibe III dam is now being diverted into a newly-dug irrigation canal, one of several which will feed a massively ambitious plantations scheme for state and private investors. 

These manmade canals are key to Ethiopia’s plantations plan, which is already having a hugely negative impact on UNESCO’s Lower Omo World Heritage site.

The government has revealed virtually nothing about the plantations program, but an official map obtained by Survival shows the enormous scope of the project.

A copy of the leaked Ethiopia map. Survival has highlighted the three resettlement areas.
© Survival

One local person, speaking to a Survival researcher who recently visited the area, said, ‘I’ve never seen the river this low. During the dry season, like it is now, you can usually cross by foot, and water reaches your knees. Now I could cross without my feet getting wet.’

The Gibe III dam, 200 kms upstream, will interrupt the river’s natural flow and deprive thousands of tribespeople of their most valuable agricultural land by stopping the annual flood.

The flooding of the Omo River feeds the rich biodiversity of the region and ensures tribes such as the Bodi, Mursi and Dassanach can feed their cattle and produce beans and cereals in the fertile silt left behind.

There was a flood last year, but most Bodi and Mursi were not able to use it for cultivation because of the irrigation project. There will be no flood this year, as the dam reservoir starts to fill, nor in succeeding years. The people have been told they will be given food aid in compensation.

Two Karo boys in front of a full Omo River. Water levels are now unrecognizably low.
© Survival

Indigenous communities are also suffering from violent human rights abuses, as plans are implemented forcibly to resettle those who stand in the way of the government’s plans, and to take away their cattle.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Ethiopia’s government is destroying the Lower Omo Valley and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of indigenous people – all in the name of ‘development’. However the human cost cannot be ignored. Re-directing a water lifeline is irresponsible and reckless.’

Note to Editors:

Kenya has recently finalized a deal, which will see it importing electricity generated from Ethiopia’s Gibe III dam.

A Wanniyala-Aetto family. The tribe want to return to their land in Maduru Oya National Park.
© Survival

A Sri Lankan park guard has shot dead a young man from the Wanniyala-Aetto tribe for hunting on his people’s ancestral land.

Local sources say Thalawarige Sunila was hunting inside the national park when he was shot and killed by the wildlife official.

Although he had a permit allowing him to be in the park, he did not have permission to hunt. The guard has been arrested.

The Wanniyala-Aetto, commonly called Veddahs by outsiders, have been banned from hunting and gathering in their forest without permits since it was made a national park in 1983.

Crowded together on small plots of land outside the park, many find it difficult to feed their families.

This is not the first time the Wanniyala–Aetto have been killed for hunting in their ancestral forest. In recent years three other Wanniyala-Aetto, all with permits, have been shot dead by park guards.

Many Wanniyala-Aetto want to return to their land in Maduru Oya National Park, and to be able to hunt for their own food and gather fruits free from harassment or violence.

A Wanniyala-Aetto man called Tapal Bandialetto told Survival, ‘If the next generation waits here, they will learn drinking, smoking and gambling. All the wrong things. They must go back to the jungle while they are still young, and go back to the traditional system. It is all being lost.’

Kayapó Indians dance at an anti-dam protest
© Terence Turner

The International Labour Organization (ILO), part of the UN, has criticized the Brazilian government for failing to respect indigenous peoples’ rights.

The ILO has stated that by failing to consult Indians about the construction of the Belo Monte mega-dam, Brazil has violated the ILO’s Convention 169 on indigenous peoples’ rights, to which the country is a signatory.

Brazilian Indians have held several large-scale protests against the dam, which will bring devastation to their rainforest. The uncontacted Indians living in the area could suffer the greatest impacts.

Whilst visiting Europe to raise awareness about the dam’s dangers, indigenous spokeswoman Sheyla Juruna said, ‘The dams will bring irreversible cultural, social and environmental damage. We are being treated like animals – all our rights are being violated’.

Brazil’s Public Ministry and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have ordered the government to suspend the dam construction until the Indians’ rights are respected, but the works continue.

The ILO has urged that the Indians be consulted ‘before the possible harmful effects [of the dam] are irreversible’.

Survival is urging all governments to ratify ILO 169, the only international law for tribal peoples.